Panda eats at a restaurant. As he gets up to leave, he pulls out a machine gun and mows down the clientele. Waiter just about manages to collect himself to ask: ‘What was that about?” Panda says, “I’m a Panda. Look it up!”

Yes, absolutely. Pandas are born at an extraordinarily early stage of development, almost like some marsupials. The difference in weight between a panda mother and her newborn cub is the largest among all mammals.

Thank you for dispelling my ignorance, Jerry! I’m so used to reading about how humans are born so extraordinarily “prematurely,” and how much parental care this necessitates, it didn’t occur to me to think whether that might be true in other parts of the animal kingdom. And sheesh, I thought kittens were helpless – they’ve got nothing on Pandas.

It’s interesting, the difference between altricial and precocial. Some animals can get up and stumble away from predators within minutes of birth; others seem hardly more than blobs of tissue. Like parrots. Infant parrots not cute!

Off topic, but Jerry – 1) I just noticed that WEIT is available as an audiobook at audible and 2) I also just noticed that it is not authorized for sale in my location (Canada). Of course, I have already read the book, but I would love to listen to it while doing cardio. Any idea as to if the audible book will become available in Canada?

How is this to rekindle the discussion:
“LONDON – Conservationists should “pull the plug” on giant pandas and let them die out, according to BBC presenter and naturalist Chris Packham.
“Here’s a species that, of its own accord-giant pandas-, has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac,” Packham told Radio Times magazine.Packham believes that money spent on conserving the panda would be better invested in other animals as the species is not strong enough to survive alone” “It’s not a strong species. Unfortunately it’s big and cute and it’s a symbol of the WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) — and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation,” he added.

“I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go, with a degree of dignity …”